Abstract
The Late Wisconsinan glacial chronostratigraphy of eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey has been based mainly on minimum ages obtained from the base of organic-rich sediment and basalt sediment ("bog-bottom') radiocarbon dates. Five new radiocarbon-dated pollen profiles are compared with numerous others in the region to document several reasons for non-representative minimum dates or the erroneous interpretation of dates used in the development of glacial stratigraphies. These errors occur because: 1) there is no stratigraphic; control on the dates which are obtained; 2) lag times occur between deglaciation and lake formation, and between deglaciation and organic-sediment deposition; or 3) contamination by younger carbon can occur. Although these are not the only problems associated with minimum date glacial chronologies, these problems can commonly be recognized and possibly avoided with the use of pollen analysis. Carefully assessed minimum dates can be used to develop an accurate glacial chronostratigraphy. -from Authors
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 299-316 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Unknown Journal |
| State | Published - Jan 1 1984 |
| Externally published | Yes |